Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a touch sensing apparatus and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a touch sensing apparatus using a roll-to-roll process.
Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a touch sensing apparatus includes a touch panel and senses a user's touch or gesture as input information. Touch panels are classified into resistive type, capacitive type, ultrasonic type and infrared type. Specifically, the capacitive type touch panels are drawing much attention due to their capability of sensing multi-touch inputs.
In the capacitive type touch panels, it is important to configure the touch panels so as to accurately sense a change in the capacitance. A capacitive type touch panel may have double-layered touch sensors. Such a capacitive type touch panel may be implemented with an array of pixels formed by a plurality of drive electrode traces (e.g., traces extending in the Y-axis direction) intersecting a plurality of sense electrode traces (e.g., traces extending in the X-axis direction). The drive and sense electrode traces are separated by a dielectric material such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or glass. However, the double-layered touch panel has some drawbacks such as high manufacturing costs and an increased thickness.
To address these disadvantages, a touch panel having single-layered touch sensors has been proposed in which the drive and sense electrode traces are formed on a single surface of a substrate. For example, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2007-0021332 filed on Mar. 7, 2007 and entitled “Contact position sensing panel having a simplified stacked structure,” which is incorporated by reference herein, describes a touch panel having single-layered touch sensors.
In the touch panel having single-layered touch sensors, an insulation layer is formed on the substrate, a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) is stacked on the insulation layer, and the FPCB and the touch sensors are electrically connected to each other through via holes formed in the insulation layer, thereby implementing external wirings. Alternatively, external wirings may be implemented by attaching the wiring portions of the touch sensors to the FPCB using an anisotropic conductive layer.
However, because processes for implementing the above-described structure are separately performed on each touch panel, there is a limitation in continuously performing the processes. In addition, cracks may be created at an adhering part between the FPCB and the insulation layer due to changes in humidity and temperature.